Stretch Run (W’s 117, Trail Blazers 123)

The all-star break is a familiar perch from which NBA fans (and teams themselves) take pause. And take stock.

But it’s not so much a review of the past (for its own sake) as it is an assessment of the task ahead. And in the W’s case, something needs to change. They’re 4-4 in their last 8 games. And 1-4 in their last 4 road games. And they’re now the equivalent of a game and a half behind the Rockets in jockeying for home-court advantage. Some say (half-rightly) that home-court advantage is more important to the Rockets than to the W’s. The reason that statement’s only half-true is that the very fact that home-court is important to the Rockets makes it important for the W’s to deprive the Rockets of that advantage.

But more tellingly—and more symptomatically—the W’s coach says his team hasn’t listened to him in a month. And hasn’t focused well in a month.

And a month isn’t a blip in an NBA season. It’s a trend. And a habit.

The W’s now have 24 games remaining in the regular season. And they’ll play those 24 games within a 6 1/2 week period. If the stretch-run of this regular season hasn’t quite begun, nonetheless you can see it from here.

“It’s their team…And they have to take ownership of it. As coaches our job is to nudge them, to guide them, in the right direction. But we don’t control them. They determine their own fate.” — Steve Kerr

There’s something unsatisfyingly quietist about Kerr’s comment above. And one doesn’t imagine someone like Popovich delimiting his own coaching authority to nudging and guiding. There’s a wide territory of leadership between “nudging” and “controlling” which Kerr’s statement above (and the appearance of letting the players coach themselves against the Suns) unhelpfully blurs.

A week or so back Kerr made clear that the W’s had serious work to do in order to rebuild good habits. But he said he didn’t intend to overwork the team in that direction prior to the all-star break—while more than implying that after the break his expectations for the team’s focus and work-ethic and rebuilding of good habits would tighten.

And that will be an important re-direction to watch.

Observations that might portend.

Last night’s Portland game was familiar in most of its essential features. And, yes, Durant was brilliant individually. And Lillard and McCollum more than doubled Steph’s and Klay’s own offensive output.

But what follows are observations about particular patterns that recurred again against Portland that will need to be resolved down the stretch-run of this regular season.

“The game’s got to matter from the beginning. We have to be ready to play right from the beginning. And we just weren’t.” — Steve Kerr

1. It certainly isn’t Zaza’s fault (primarily) that the starting lineup hasn’t been remotely focused at the beginning of games for a month now. And yet the difficulty that he (and JaVale) have in closing down driving lanes (and thus limiting pitch-outs after drives, too) doesn’t strengthen team-wide defensive integrity.

2. When Zaza was out with injury—and Bell started—I began wondering if at some point the W’s three-line center shift could switch to Looney (even if only playing nominal starting minutes), Bell (when healthy again), and, of course, the redoubtable David West.

3. Or could the W’s survey the buy-out market for someone else to add?

4. The most eye-brow raising move last night was the fact that Nick Young started for Zaza in the second half. (With neither Zaza nor JaVale playing second half.)

5. The move worked—and didn’t work.

6. The team played better in the 3rd quarter than they did in the 1st. But besides Young improving floor spacing on offense, it was hard to credit Young in particular with the team’s improved play.

7. The W’s still don’t have a small (aka “death”) lineup that remotely scares anyone any more.

8. After the heartening rejuvenating effort against the (hapless, barely functioning) Suns on Monday, the W’s bench reverted to blahs-ville last night. If the biggest bench note is the question of how Iguodala can score 0 points and register 1 assist in 29 minutes and still be +9, then your bench is more of a riddle than an asset. (David West, as always, excepted.)

9. The post all-star break playoff stretch-run will be exciting right across the board. In the West only 2 games in the loss column separate the current #3 seed from the #9 seed. Five teams are tied with 26 losses. And one of the most threatening upcoming teams is the Jazz who (with 28 losses) have just won 10 games in a row.

10. And in that passel of pretenders are teams that don’t blanch at the prospect of playing the W’s in the first round.

11. They don’t fear playing “a team for the ages”…

12. Because right now they wouldn’t be playing “a team for the ages.” And so…

13. Time to re-instill a little holy awe in them.

OT postscript

I’m happy to complete this blog—such as it is. It’s not that I’m listless as a fan covering a not-particularly important regular season game going into all-star break.

It’s that the Florida school shootings—as the latest in an unrelenting battering of shootings in this country—leave all such games unimportant.

There have been 18 school shootings in our country just since January 1. That is, 18 school shootings in 45 days.

This isn’t listless or unfocused leadership on the part of legislators and the executive branch of our government. It’s willful moral turpitude.